Seton Hall Prep lacrosse team opens the season with two wins

WEST ORANGE, NJ — The nationally- and state-ranked Seton Hall Prep lacrosse team opened its 2023 season with two victories last week. 

On Tuesday, April 4, the Pirates hosted Iona Prep of New Rochelle, N.Y., at Brendan P. Tevlin Memorial Field in West Orange and defeated the Gaels 12-4. Senior Elijah Rippey opened the scoring on an assist by junior Christian Schweiger with 9:11 left in the first quarter. Just 3:06 later, sophomore Nolan Sabel scored an unassisted goal to make it 2-0. Less than two minutes later, junior Luke Knezovic scored on an assist by junior Brad Schuster to increase the Pirates lead to 3-0 after the first quarter.

In the second quarter, the Pirates increased their lead to 7-1 at the half. Schweiger scored two goals in the quarter. In the third quarter, Seton Hall added to the lead with three goals to lead 10-2 after three quarters. Schuster scored two goals with one assist while Schweiger had two assists in the quarter. Each team scored two goals in the fourth quarter to make the final 12-4. Schuster, who finished with four goals and two assists, said after the game, “This was my first varsity start (he played JV last year) and I felt really good out there. We played very well against a really good Iona Prep team.” 

Schweiger, who finished with two goals and three assists, added, “I tried to set up my teammates by dodging and moving off the ball. I felt good out there but there is a lot of improvement to do.” 

Senior Liam Oakes had six ground balls and junior Patrick Quinn had five ground balls. Sophomore Theodore Coyle was 7-of-11 on faceoffs while junior goalie Adam Angel had 10 saves. Also scoring goals were seniors Matthew Pepe, Andrew Daly and junior Tyler Juhlin.

On Thursday, April 6, the Pirates traveled to Watchung School Field to take on Montclair and defeated the Mounties 16-6. Leading the scoring was Pepe with five goals and four assists while senior Michael Dunleavy scored three goals with two assists. Knezovic scored three goals and Juhlin scored two goals and had one assist. Sabel had five assists while Oakes and Daly each had four ground balls. Angel had six saves while sophomore goalie Conor Keenan had two saves. Also scoring goals for the Pirates were seniors Mason Mac, Jordan Lugo and sophomore Joe DelMauro.

The Pirates are currently ranked No. 2 in New Jersey by the Star-Ledger and No. 21 in the Inside Lacrosse Top 25 national poll.

Here are upcoming games:

• April 13: at Manasquan, 10 a.m.
• April 15: at Columbia, 10 a.m.
• April 17: at Caldwell, 4:30 p.m.
• April 18: vs. Rumson–Fair Haven, 4:30 p.m.

  Seton Hall Prep lacrosse